


The Pillow Fort

by Aeradae



Series: Cullrian One-shots [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Babysitting, Children, Fluff, M/M, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 23:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4368833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeradae/pseuds/Aeradae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watching a young child proves to be a lot more interesting than Cullen and Dorian originally thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pillow Fort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doodlewe](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=doodlewe), [TheLadyMagician](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyMagician/gifts).



> This was an idea that came from Cullrian Prompt Saturday on Tumblr. It was so much fun to write! Nesiriel Lavellan and Eira are my characters.

“You want to do what?” Dorian asked, a confused look on his face as he looked down at the tiny elf child before him.

“Build a fort!” the child squealed, his blue eyes wide with excitement as he hopped up and down.

Dorian looked to Cullen for help. “How? With what?” he asked.

Cullen laughed. “I guess you wouldn’t know much about that, being a spoiled noble brat.” Dorian huffed indignantly, but Cullen pretended he didn’t hear. “It’s all about using your imagination. Anything can be used to make a fort; chairs, bed sheets, pillows–”

“You guys are going to make a pillow fort?!” Nesiriel Lavellan shouted in excitement as she entered the room, her white fennec Eira close on her heels.

“Can we please, Nessy?” the child asked pleadingly as he ran over to her for a hug.

Nesiriel picked Tamet up and kissed his cheek. “We are most definitely making one!” she responded with a twinkle in her green eyes. Eira whined, and Nesiriel bent a knee slightly so he could jump up and take his usual place around her neck. He rubbed his head against her white hair affectionately. “Eira, I’m sure you have a pillow stash somewhere. Care to go grab some?” Eira chirped happily and hopped back down to fetch them.

Cullen looked around the room with his arms crossed, deep in thought. “If we move some of the chairs against the wall, we could use them as a framework. Then we could cover it with a sheet and surround it with pillows.”

Dorian couldn’t help but laugh at Cullen’s child-like eagerness. It was terribly endearing. “Something tells me you’ve done this more than once.”

“My siblings and I used to make forts quite frequently. It was a fun way to pass the time and it kept us busy.” Cullen smiled and motioned for Dorian to help him move the chairs while Nesiriel took Tamet with her to find some sheets and stuffed animals.

They returned to find a large mound of pillows in the middle of the room. Eira sat proudly beside it, wagging his tail and whining happily. Nesiriel burst into laughter. “Leave it to my ridiculous fennec to hoard half of the pillows in Skyhold.” She deposited Tamet on the pillow mound to play with Eira while she helped the two men set up the rest of the fort.

Cullen and Dorian had stacked some of the chairs into two rows. Nesiriel found a couple of brooms in the closet, placing them over the tops of the chairs before throwing a large sheet over everything. She crawled into the entrance, motioning for someone to bring her some pillows. Cullen tossed some of the smaller ones in while he used the larger ones to cover the fort’s chair skeleton.

Nesiriel crawled back out to survey their handiwork. “What do you think, Tam?” she asked the child.

He hurried over to look at the fort. “It’s the best!” he cried happily. He quickly bent down and disappeared inside. 

Dorian smiled fondly at Tamet’s excitement, trying hard to stifle a yawn behind his hand.

“You can’t be tired already!” Nesiriel shook her head. “It wasn’t even that much work.”

Dorian huffed. “You, my dear, did not get up before dawn with a certain small child with endless amounts of energy.”

“In!” Tamet cried as he peeked his head out and motioned for the three adults to join him in the fort. Nesiriel immediately crawled in, followed by Cullen. Dorian gave the fort a dubious look, unsure if it was big enough for all of them, but let himself be coaxed inside.

Laying side by side, shoulders and hips brushing, there was just enough room for them all. Tamet crawled up onto Nesiriel’s chest to snuggle, freeing up a small amount of extra space. Eira hopped into the fort and settled on Cullen’s chest with a pleased chirp. It was surprisingly comfortable; Nesiriel had arranged the pillows and blankets into a cozy little nest.

“I think I am beginning to see the appeal of such a thing for a child,” Dorian commented with a smile.

“And for an adult. I should make one of these in my room.” Nesiriel giggled at the thought. “Josie would absolutely die.”

Dorian laughed as he rolled onto his side, resting his head against Cullen’s chest next to Eira. The fennec chirped at Dorian and licked his nose. Dorian wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Rude,” he growled.

“You’re lucky that he likes you, Dorian. If he didn’t, every single one of your precious pillows would have gone missing by now,” Nesiriel commented with a grin.

Dorian glared at her. “If he ever took my beautiful pillows, I would find myself with a new pair of fur-lined gloves.”

Nesiriel narrowed her eyes. “Rude.”

Tamet sat up and tapped at Nesiriel’s rib cage. “Nessy, can we paint?”

“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. I will go get my paint supplies. Keep an eye on him for a moment, lovebirds.”

She returned shortly with a large bundle in her arms. She found Tamet sitting outside of the fort with his arms crossed over his chest. “They’re not playing with me!” he pouted.

Nesiriel put her things down and peeked into the fort curiously, wondering what the two men were up to. She laughed softly when she saw Cullen and Dorian had fallen asleep, Dorian with his head still pillowed on Cullen’s chest next to Eira.

Nesiriel tried hard not to laugh at Tamet’s expression. “They’re having a nap, Tam. You tired them out. Eira, you, and I will play until they wake up, alright?”

—

Dorian slowly returned to consciousness a short while later. He blinked sleepily and tried to remember where he was. Ah, the pillow fort. He looked around and realized in amusement that he and Cullen had been covered in stuffed animals of all shapes, sizes, and colours. How cute.

The sounds of fennec shrieks and breaking glass brought Cullen awake with a start. “Nes?” he called.

A stream of creative cursing in Tevene followed before she replied. “Uhhhh, guys? I might need a little help,” Her voice sounded high and strained. “Like right now.”

Cullen and Dorian hurried out of the fort and emerged into utter chaos. Nesiriel had set out multiple jars of paint for Tamet to use.The opened jars were now broken and dripping all over the floor, their contents sprayed over every imaginable surface. Tamet was giggling, clapping his hands and rubbing a mixture of yellow and red paint into his dark hair. Eira was hiding in the corner and mewling unhappily as he tried to rub more of the red paint out of his fur. Nesiriel sat in the very middle of it all with silent fury in her eyes, her head and neck covered in bright blue paint.

The two men looked at each other in astonishment before bursting into hysterical laughter. Tears flowed from Dorian’s eyes, and he had to brace himself against Cullen’s shoulder in order to keep himself upright.

“It’s. Not. Funny.” Nesiriel glared at them. A few sparks erupted from her clenched fists.

“What happened?” Cullen managed to get out between fits of laughter.

Nesiriel sighed heavily and crossed her arms. “I was trying to show Tam a little magic trick, but I may have lost control of the spell for a second or two. Eira was sitting in my lap at the time, got scared by the loud noise, and bolted away from me. Right into the jars of paint that I had just opened. That freaked him out even more, and here we are.”

“I suppose it’s bath time then.” Cullen carefully moved Tamet away from the sharp pieces of glass before taking one of the already ruined sheets and wiping as much of the still wet paint off of the child as he could. “I’ll stay and try to clean up this mess if you want to go on ahead and wash all that paint out of your hair.” Nesiriel nodded and scooped up Tamet, dragging Dorian along with her, and went to fill the tub.

—

When the tub was full Nesiriel eagerly peeled her ruined clothing off of her body and climbed in, holding out her hands for Tamet when she was sure the temperature wasn’t too hot for his sensitive skin. She balanced the child on her raised knees and set to work scrubbing the paint from his skin and hair. At the same time Dorian sat beside tub and helped to remove the paint from her own hair. To her horror, she realized the paint was quite difficult to clean off of Tamet’s skin. “Uh oh…”

Dorian had come to a similar conclusion. “Nes, umm… which set of paints did you grab exactly? This… this isn’t really coming out.”

Hadn’t she seen Sera lurking around the supply room the other day? “Oh no, she didn’t…” _She so did. I am going to kill her, get Dorian to bring her back to life, and then kill her again._ “I think Sera switched my paint with Solas’ paint,” she growled through gritted teeth.

“That girl is a menace.” Cullen shook his head as he joined them in the bathroom. 

Nesiriel managed to scrub most of the paint off of Tamet’s body, then handed him to Cullen while she called for Eira. “You’re next, little one.” Eira whined pitifully, crouched low beside the tub. “Do you want to be clean or not? I have to at least try and get it off.” Eira gave a sigh before allowing Nesiriel to place him in the tub. Unfortunately, she only managed to remove a small portion of the paint, giving the poor fennec blotchy, pink patches on his fur. She muttered angrily to herself as she set Eira back onto the floor and scrubbed at her neck.

When she was done, Dorian held out a towel for her and helped her climb out of the tub. She glanced over at Cullen to see little Tamet curled up against his chest, fast asleep. “Well, at least we finally wore him out?” She pulled on the pair of breeches and tunic that Cullen had thoughtfully brought her. “Would you guys mind putting him down for me?”

Dorian raised an eyebrow. “And where do you think you are going?”

Nesiriel grinned wickedly. “Sera isn’t the only one who knows how to pull a good prank. She wants to play this game? Let’s see how she likes it back.”


End file.
